Automatic circuit breaker and closer.



No. 660,84. Patented Oct. 23, [900. W. B. WATZEL 8:. F. L. SHEKELL.

AUTOMATIC ClRCUlT BREAKER AND CLOSER.

(Application filed Jan. 4, 1900.)

(N0 llodal.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM B. WATZEL AND FORREST L. SHEKELL, OF WVASI-IINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

AUTOMATIC CIRCUIT BREAKER AND CLOSER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 660,134, dated October 23, 1900.

Application filed January at, 1900. Serial No. 393. (N0 model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM B. WATZEL and FORREST L. SHEKELL, citizens of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Circuit Breakers and Closers; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our present invention has for its object to provide a novel and simplified electric-circuit breaker and closer adapted to automatically operate to prevent accidental grounding of the electric current and the consequent exhaustion of the battery, our improved device being designed more particularly for use in connection with electric gas-lighting appliances, to which end it consists, essentially, of the novel details of construction and general arrangement ofparts, as will be hereinafter fully described, and specifically designated in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of our invention; and Figs. 2, 3, and 4t, enlarged detail views of the same, showing more fully the general construction and combination of parts.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Referring to said drawings, A represents the gas-burner, having a stationary electrode .3 electrically insulated therefrom.

C is the movable electrode, attached to the gas-cock D in such manner that when operated the said electrode will be momentarily brought into contact with the stationary electrode B, thus making a ground connection through the gas-cock and its line of pipe to produce the necessary spark for igniting the gas at the burner in a manner well known.

Our improved automatic circuit-breaker is adapted to be connected directly to the sparkcoil F, and consists, essentially, of a double bulb or tube Gr, preferably of glass, connected together by an elongated and contracted neck Gr, formed integral therewith, the complete device being somewhat similar in shape to that of the ordinary sand-glass. The lower end of said bulb G is provided with an armature H and with loosely-coiled wires or con ductors I I entering said bulb upon opposite sides, but having no immediate connection with each other except through a charge of mercury or other liquid conductor of electricity in the lower portion of said bulb when in its normal position. The neck G of the double bulb G rests loosely within a yoke or ring K, pivoted between the supports K, projecting from the one end of the spark-coil F, as shown.

L represents the line leading from the stationary electrode B to the spark-coil F, thence through the same to the wire or conductor 1 of the bulb G, the opposite wire I of said bulb connecting with the battery E, and thence to the ground on gas-pipe. The electric-cir: cuit breaker being in its normal position, as shown in full lines, and the ground connection also being normally broken at the burner, the line is then ready for operation.

In the operation of our invention when turning on the gas through the medium of the gas-cock the electrodes B and C are brought into contact with each other, thereby making a ground connection momentarily for the electric current, and in making said connection a spark is produced between the electrodes B and C to ignite the gas issuing from the burner. Simultaneously with this operation the electric current is caused to pass through the spark-coil F and electric-circuit breaker G, tending to draw the armature H of said circuit-breaker toward the magnet M of the spark-coil, and if the electric current is continued, by reason of the electrodes being caught on each other or the wires L becoming in any other manner grounded, then the electromagnet M becomes sufficiently excited to fully attract and hold the armature H of the circuit-breaker, causing the latter to become tilted or oscillated into the position shown in dotted lines, thereby allowing the mercury or other electrical conveying substance to pass down through the elongated neck G and reverse the normal position of the said electric-circuit breaker, thus severing electrical connection between the adjacent ends of the two wires I I. The

electric circuit is thus broken and remains so until the circuit-breaker G is swung back by hand to its original position.

The movement of the mercury or other substance from one end of the double bulb G to the other is necessarily slow by reason of its passage through the contracted neck G, thus allowing ample time for properlylighting the gas without liability of the circuit-breaker operating to sever the electric circuit, which can only occur, as above stated, when the electrodes or Wires become grounded and remain so.

The advantages of our invention will be ing a suitable charge of electrical conveying fluid and adapted to be suspended within a yoke pivoted to the spark-coil of an electric circuit.

2. In an electric-circuitbreaker and closer, the double tube having a charge of electrical conveying fluid, and provided at its lower end with an armature, the loosely-coiled wires projecting into said bulb on opposite sides thereof, in combination with the pivoted yoke upon the spark-coil, and an electric circuit.

3. In an electric-circuit breaker and closer, the double bulb having an intermediate contracted neck, an armature upon the lower part of said bulb, the loosely-coiled wires entering said bulb upon opposite sides, and said bulb inclosing a charge of electrical conveying fluid, in combination with the pivoted yoke of the spark-coil, an electric circuit, and the electrodes of a gas-burner.

In testimony whereof we allix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM B. W ATZEL. FORREST I. SHEKELL.

Witnesses:

AMBROSE WILLIAMs, CHAs. F. HUBER. 

